As We Lay
by rubydiamond17
Summary: Rei Hino has had her fair share of heartbreak and sadness but she may find hapiness in the most unexpected of ways, through the most unexpected of people.
1. Crap!

Chapter one-Crap!

You know there's some people in the world whose lives can only be described as easy. They've never worked particularly hard in their whole lives. Never think much about the future or worry about anything and somehow things always work out for them.

I'm not one of those people.

There's always been some kind of problem in my life. Growing up without a mother and having a father that was never around and doesn't care to know me. I'm not complaining though don't get me wrong. I have a nice new apartment in the city that I decorated my self that is very pretty and quiet and lonely, point is there's a time when things get too much to handle. When things like: finding your boyfriend fucking another girl in your bed, or your grandfather dying and his beloved temple being considered as the new site for a parking lot just gets you down. But those have all past and i'm slowly, slow-ly moving on. It's just things seem so much worse when you're out of breath from running to catch the last train, that you eventually miss and end up taking half a dozen buses to get to you're home. My teeth are chattering my hair is damp, mascara is running down my face and I've probably got pneumonia.

I'm finally calming down and just being thankful that this bus was the last one I would have to take, when I noticed that the last few people on the bus, apart from me, were getting off including the bus driver. I haven't really been on a bus since I was a teen so I just sat there like a lemon waiting for some kind of explanation.

After fifteen minutes the bus driver returned whistling a tune I couldn't recognise, he stopped when he noticed me.

'Love what are you doing?'

What a stupid question I'm obviously sitting down waiting for you to drive me to the bus stop near my home. Obviously I didn't say that because I'm not stupid, a woman alone on a late bus in the middle of nowhere with a bald bus driver, not that I have anything against bald people.

'I'm waiting for the Northfleet avenue stop? '

'This is the last stop love, sorry'.

Last stop. What?

'But this bus goes to Whitechapel doesn't it?

'It does but today we stop at Carnickle'.

Carnickle I've never even heard of it! He must have sensed my worry because then he said:

'The next bus should be going there though?'

Relief

'When's the next bus coming?

'In about an hour and a half'

Well. That isn't so bad. So I got off the bus and sat at the bus stop watching the bus driver smoke his cigarette inside the warm bus and then leave and realised how dark and lonely it was in Carnickle.

After waiting for what felt like at least an hour but ended up being ten minutes I figured I would look for some civilisation, maybe a cafe even though no cafe would be open 10.30pm at night.

Somehow I find myself in some weird tavern kind of place. There are two guys behind the counter. One who is intensely watching a wrestling match and occasionally shouting curses to the television, another who is talking animatedly to a big hairy man with lots of tattoos. In the far corner in the darkest part of the place was a slouched figure surrounded by empty pint glasses. The place was grotty with very poor lighting and a weird smell of beer ,cigarette smoke and vomit.

After a few minutes of standing there and not being noticed I figured this really wasn't the place for a twenty-something year old fairly attractive young lady. Unfortunately for me it seemed someone had noticed me and I felt a strong hand grab my wrist. Crap!


	2. Geez What happened to him?

Geez. What happened to him?

Crap! I'm going to get raped or murdered or raped and murdered!

None of these bums will help me either, in fact, they probably won't even nudge and if they do they'll join in. Everyone will say I brought this on myself and my dad will be successful in convincing all of his friends (colleagues who pretended to be his friends) that I was a whore who couldn't take instruction.

" 'ello boo- e- full wha'sa preddy l'il thin like you doin' in 'ere" Great I'm going to be murdered by an Irish guy with awful breath.

As scared as I obviously am I stupidly reply with a:

"It's a free country, can I have my arm back, please". Honestly I'm not mad, I've always been ballsy, but recently I reckon I don't have very much to lose and if I'm going to die I'm going to put up a bloody good fight. As strong as I am, I have my eyes tightly shut ,waiting for impact.

Waiting...

...Waiting...

Nothing came.

I finally opened my eyes and what I did receive was a hearty chuckle and my arm dropped back to my side. To be honest his breath was like death so...

"Oi dis this one your bird, one heck of a lass" The big hairy Irish man turned towards the guy in the corner.

Looking more carefully, even though it was hard to with the poor lighting, I noticed he was wearing quite a nice suit and although his hair was dishevelled it was really thick and really, really dark.

His head suddenly snapped up and before I could take a really good look it was back down on the table. All that was different is that his middle finger was raised directed at the large man now standing behind me.

"Aw, Dare don' be like that I was jus try'na help , woulda bin great if ya chick came to take you back"

Well now I knew this is where newly dumped men came to reside I thought it was about time I left.

"She's blonde I told you Bernie, she's blonde" I looked again to find the guy in the corner upright. He was unshaven and his eyes were bloodshot but I could recognise that face anywhere.

"Darien? Darien...Shields?" I looked carefully fully analysing him. It had been a long time and maybe I was wrong. For one, this wasn't the place the Darien I knew would reside. Plus he looked like a tramp.

"Dare, you sure this ain't you're girl, he is pissed ya know" He said turning to me," an' he ain't seen her in a while" God I hoped it wasn't him.

"Bernie, she's fucking blonde!" For once everyone in the tavern stopped what ever they were doing as he jumped off his stool and stood shaking on his feet.

Well he seemed the same height as the Darien I knew and the same frame but people do tend to look similar these days. Kind of.

"Her hair's the colour of Gold and its all the way down-" He gestured with his hand how long her hair was but didn't manage to finish as the lower his hand went the more his body tipped, as if he were doing a weird sideways bow, until he eventually lost balance and hit the floor.

Well, that was strange.

What was even stranger was that even though the rest of them had all witnessed it they didn't try to see if he was alright or help him out a bit. Instead, they carried on whatever it was they were doing.

The big guy behind me seemed to feel my uneasiness.

"Don't worry 'e does that all the time, that Selina girl's killed 'im ".

Okay that was definitely my Darien.

I ran to him never-the-less. He seemed fine other than he smelt like alcohol and just looked plain unkempt. Oh, and he was unconscious.

"Is he going to be alright, here?" I was genuinely worried. This place was just ruff and just not the place for an obviously emotionally unstable man. Yep, I watched that episode of Dr Phil.

"Yeah, Yeah 'e's bin 'ere for a week now, I'm lettin' 'im stay upstairs" I looked the way the Irish guy pointed as he said there were stairs that probably led to the groggiest bedrooms this side of town.

I'm one of those people, i'm told, whose face tends to give away what their feeling, because I hadn't said anything and the Irish guy said:

"Look girly, who are ya anyway? Ya obviously din come 'ere for a drink or a chat wiv the lads 'n' ya all over im, he's chubby finger pointed at Darien"

" he's not into prostitutes". I turned to look at the soft voice that now joined in. It seemed I had caught the attention of the other guys. Well, at least one of them.

I was not one to take being called a prostitute lightly.

"How dare you! You don't even know me; I don't even look like a prostitute!"

To my anger and embarrassment the rest of the guys looked at me as if to say:

"Well, you kind of do"

I stood from unconscious Darien's side and walked towards the counter where the big Irish man "Bernie" stood.

"Look I know how strange this is gonna sound but I was a good friend of Darien's and Serena's, my name's Rei Hino" I quickly took out one of my company cards and a pen. Behind it I wrote my name and my number.

"When Darien comes to, can you please give him this"?

The large man took the card and put it in the breast pocket of his shirt.

"'right" he replied. As scary as he was there was something about him that struck me as trustworthy and that's saying something coming from me because I trust very, very few.

I left the horrible place I found to be called The Empire ( Yeah right), to find I had just ten minutes to wait for my bus.

I knew for once when I got home I wouldn't be thinking about how awful my life was but instead how Darien's life seemed to have gotten so bad.

Geez .What happened to him?


	3. Darien?

"TICK, TOCK, TICK, TOCK…

Okay, it's 12.15pm I've vacuumed the house, cleaned the windows, dusted the cupboards, had a wash, deep conditioned my hair and I'm now in front of the TV watching something about someone and something else and basically thinking about Darien. I hate to admit it but I've been thinking about the wretched man since last week when I saw him. I promised myself that I wouldn't, especially now that it's been a week and he hasn't called me. Especially now when he's with his wife again, in their perfect house, in their perfect neighbourhood, with their perfect friends. Perfect friends that used to be mine.

For some stupid reason, over the past few days I had started to daydream. Maybe this was Karma maybe this was me getting that lucky streak that I so deserved. Maybe Darien was going to find out what a horrible decision he made dropping me and going with Serena all those years ago it would be late but better late than never right?

I'd never been a daydreamer. The last time I daydreamed It was of me and Chad ; him being a world renowned rock star and me being his first lady, maybe making a name for myself as a manager or even managing him. Look how that turned out.

"That's it! No more depressed thoughts I need to get out of here!"

So I grab my pre-packed gym bag and head for the local health centre.

* * *

"Hello class and welcome to beginner's Aikido, my name is Jadeite and I'm your teacher for today"

I was quite surprised and impressed by the outcome. A lot of girls (probably because Jadeite was quite hot) and some guys too so he was probably quite a good teacher as well.

It had been a long time that I had done martial arts. It'd been really difficult since my Grand dad had died to do anything that reminded me of him but this was the only way I could really relax myself. Even hearing the techniques again made me happier and little more relaxed.

"I will need a volunteer"

After saying that poor technique could lead to anything from joint injury to death there were obviously going to be no volunteers.

"Anybody? Somebody?I'm a professional don't worry I won't hurt you"

He's pleading face was quite cute for a person of the male species so being the tough cookie I am I stood up.

"Ah I wasn't expecting a woman to volunteer "

I take the hotness back he was obviously a sexist pig. Well, he didn't know that I'd been training in Aikido for ten years.

* * *

"I guess you haven't been teaching long enough until you've been body slammed by a beginner"

I didn't know he wouldn't defend himself or else I would have been a little easy on the guy

"I'm not exactly a beginner so it doesn't make you any less of a teacher". After I'd changed he was making a show of looking like he was making some big-shot call on his mobile but when I walked past he followed me, putting his phone is his pocket.

"Ah that's good makes me happy I wasn't floored by a complete beginner twice"

"Twice?" In hindsight I shouldn't have asked because then he said:

"Yeah first when I saw you walk in the room and then when you threw me". Wow and I thought I'd heard them all.

Obviously this guy had no clue as my disinterest went unnoticed.

"So can I drive you home or…

"I came in my own car so…

"Oh, well we have advanced classes on Thursday nights if you can make it "

He did this…cute gesture putting his hand behind his neck looking sort of nervous. It was endearing.

"Yeah, maybe".

* * *

The drive back home was swift and uneventful although there was a funny story on the news apparently some man who was trying to marry his computer.

It was about 4 when I got back home and being September it was a little dark and so I hadn't noticed the rucksack and briefcase at my door until I nearly tripped over them.

"What the fu-

"Rei?

"D-Darien?


	4. Where can I put these then?

'Rei, you're here? I thought I might have had the wrong address'.

It was the strangest feeling. He was standing in front of me and I could hear his voice but it sounded distant like a blast from the past. He was a blast from the past.

'No… no it's the right address…erm come in' my voice didn't sound like my voice; it sounded strained and forced. I fumbled with my keys and finally opened the door, holding the door open for him as he followed me in. I walked into the living room and put the light on.

'You've got a lovely place here' Darien said nervously, his rucksack on his shoulder and briefcase in his hand.

'Thank you, how did you find my house?

'I…I got your card'. He lifted it up for me to see as if to prove it, it was bent and tattered. 'From Bernie, when I saw it…I thought I must have been dreaming or really drunk'.

That's how I was feeling now. In fact, in all the days I hadn't heard from him I thought that maybe it wasn't him, just something who looked exactly like him.

'Can I sit down?' He asked awkwardly. I nodded. As he sat down he looked around the room. 'It's a nice place you have here, really beautiful'.

He'd said that already.

'You didn't answer my question' I didn't mean to be rude. Well, maybe I did. I mean all I was expecting was a phone call it was just too weird that he was here in my home. 'How did you find me?' He leaned back in his seat.

'I found this area from your phone number and then I did some digging on the internet' He stated matter of factly 'I still can't believe that I'm here…I can't believe that I' here with you….you haven't changed a bit' He smiled again, nervously. The Darien I knew was never this nervous, agitated or twitchy. Satisfied with his answer I sat down in the sofa to his left.

'I decorated this place myself' He seemed to relax in response.' All earthy tones; beige, cream, brown, black and of course red, I was rambling, the black lacquer furniture was imported from japan. While he looked around I got to chance to really look at him. He looked awful. His hair was all over the place, his face unshaven and dark circles were under his eyes. He was wearing the same suit that he was wearing the night I had seen him in the tavern.

'Darien? Is everything ok?' I asked. This wasn't the Darien I once knew. This Darien looked homeless and frail. He smiled in response.

'I'm just…just going through a bit of a rough patch' I lifted an eyebrow, if this was a bit of a rough patch then what happened in an actual rough patch.

'I know what I must look like Rei but…but it's not that bad and besides I didn't come here to talk about me I wanted to see you it's been years'. He looked at me with such…pity I couldn't help but laugh

'I'm sorry and not to belittle your efforts but isn't it a bit late for that…it's been five years. I mean you must have heard things, seen the pictures of Chad and those women in the magazines unless you hadn't noticed that woman hanging off his arm wasn't me…you must have heard about my grandfather or didn't you care-

'Of course I cared Rei, we all cared…we just didn't know what to do, we had no idea where you were or how to find you and we always thought that once you had gotten over…, he moved his hand in a circular motion,…over whatever it was, you would come home'. His tone was so familiar, so disgustingly familiar. He was disappointed in me. It hit me hard.

'Don't you dare…I get enough of this shit from my father, don't you dare treat me like a petulant child you have no idea what I've been though, NO IDEA-

'-I'm sorry Rei I didn't mean it like that I just…I just thought this could be our chance to work things out' He said quietly, maturely, making me feel like a complete idiot for losing my temper.

'And what If I don't want to work things out? What if I don't forgive you? He sighed at my response

'Well then you wouldn't be the first person Rei'

That wasn't the response I had expected.

He picked his rucksack and briefcase off the floor. I panicked I was expecting him to win me over and be the annoyingly perfect and ever forgiving Darien that I knew.

'Wait…what…where are you going?' I stammered blocking him from leaving the living room

'Rei you've made it clear that I'm not wanted, I'm happy that you're safe and well, good luck for the future'. I almost laughed from pure shock. So that was it! He was leaving!

'Is this a joke? I didn't mean…where are you going to go?' I sounded ridiculous but I couldn't believe this was happening. He came to my home after five years of us not speaking only to leave after five minutes because I wasn't inviting. Didn't he remember me at all? I'm Rei Hino I'm never inviting.

'I saw a hotel on my way here. I'll stay there for a bit' He wasn't joking, 'if you could excuse me-

'I have like a million spare rooms in this place you can stay here…I mean the Apex is the nearest hotel and its 150 dollars a night' I was pleading with him and it was embarrassing but for once I actually wanted human company.

'Despite my appearance, I'm not a poor man Rei'

'Fine then stay…stay because…I'm sick Darien of living here by myself and being depressed and bitter and angry at the world…you think you're having a rough patch? well….well… then I've been having full blown dermatitis' Dermatitis! What the hell was I saying? He wouldn't want to stay now. I resigned myself for his exit and moved myself out of his way. When he didn't move I looked up. He smiled at me. The first genuine smile that I'd seen on his face since I'd seen him.

'What?' I said my eyebrows furrowed

'Where can I put these then?'


	5. Author Note

Hi all,

I wanted to take the time to apologise for taking so long to update this. I have pretty much finished writing this story and will be posting chapters up weekly as I want there to be a build-up to every one, a bit like a tv show. The next few chapters will be long awaited flashbacks explaining both Rei and Darien's situations.

Thank you for all your support.

Lots of love Ruby diamond

P.S I will be also be continuing my other story Obsession but my other story Ginevra's Tale will be discontinued due to lack of interest


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